Chrysler Sailors Forum

Well went out yesterday with a weather forcast of 30% rain and 15mph winds only to have it blowing rain at 20 out of the northeast just as I start to put the boat in the water at a ramp that opens to the.......................you got it northeast. There is a bend to the northeast in the river at this same point so the wind has 4 or 5 miles to build up steam and of course the cabin doors were not in place and facing in the direction of the rain! I tried to wait it out but gave up and just sucked up and got the boat out and pointed into the wind. It rained steady for about another hour or so before it let up then I saw this



The weather did finally clear a bit but the wind was gusting 30 by the time I cam back in, alone with the wind pushing the boat into the shore/dock it was tricky to say the least and of course all of the seaweed in the river was blown into this cove to be lifted out of the water with my boat on the trailer (along with a large dead fish, man it must have been rough). There is a short movie of the conditions about two hours before I came in as the winds started to climb above 20 at this link http://www.byershome.net/_Album/2008/08 ... easter.htm

I found out my rear bilge which I thought would only be useful if the rudder post started leaking has another use. I laid the boat over to nearly 90 degrees and had water, a lot of it, flow in the cockpit over the leeward rail. It flowed through the storage compartment doors into the rear of the boat were it was trapped in the rear bilge. Saved me from having a cabin full of water. Also the steering wheel post makes for a great foot hold when the boat is over this far

Now if the temperature would just fall about 40 degrees it would have been perfect............................

Hey Cool!

Actually I love sailing in that crap and learn lots when I do. As long as it isn't tooo cold anyway... So did you get knocked down then?

What led to that,, I'm curious cuz we got knocked down 3 times this summer. My sweety is getting pretty good at cleaning up underneath if water gets into the cabin area. She's also not so stressed about being out in those conditions after seeing how the boat rights itself and how fast the water acually drains out of the cockpit area...

They definately make for a memorable sail!

Billy

Great video.

It is amazing how fast the cockpit drains!

90 degree knockdown? That puts your mast almost in the water. Fun fun fun.

Our leaves will be gone up here soon, so I hope to get some serious sailing in before long.

keep the videos coming

It wasn't quite a knockdown since I did not hit the water with the sail (the leeward side of the cockpit was underwater for a second), I had unreefed the main and was trying to do something else when the gust hit, all I could do was hold on and turn into the wind. The movie was taken after I rereefed the main later on. I couldn't do anything without getting in a sheltered area first that meant turning down wind and heading for the east side of the river. I had water coming over the windward rail at times the waves were so big.

I heard over the VHF someone was broke down north of the Buchman bridge and being driven against the bridge pilings so it was rough out there, coast guard was busy.

By the way if anyone wants to sail the St. Johns this ramp is excellent. It has three ramps with two floating docks in between and plenty of paved parking. The ramp is plenty deep and steep enough to put a boat in. The water stays deep being at least 10 ft even at low tide at the end of the floating piers which run about 30 to 35 ft out into the water. The ramp is concrete and has ridges for good traction.....................unless the ramp is covered in seaweed It is located about 3 miles north of Greencove Springs and is a public ramp with a separate fishing pier/picnic area and bathrooms. I think it is called knights landing and is at the mouth of the Black Creek river that dumps into the St. John's. It is also well lit at night and the county partrols the area on a regular basis, they also do a marine patrol out of here so make sure your paperwork and safety equipment are in good order. Time before last he was out about half a mile checking boat registration, gave me the thumbs up as I went by